moonslav59

If Arroyo is doing well enough to hold onto the 2B position, we simply hold off bringing Downs up. It's not like he's banging on the door by hitting .850 in AAA. (Also, let's not jump the gun, here. Arroyo has 35 PAs, this year. That's a teenie-tiny sample size. He had a .622 OPS in his 250 previous ML PAs) Even if we do bring Downs up mid-season 2021, there should be plenty of chances for him to get some playing time without moving everyone around to different positions. Arroyo has experience at 3B and SS. He could fill-in there a few times, while Downs plays 2B. Downs can also back up SS. I don't see us moving Devers to 1B, even though I liked the idea a couple years ago. We also have to think of Bogey opting out. Downs or Arroyo may be in the mix, there, too. If we end up with an IF logjam, it will be a nice problem to have to deal with, and trading one could help us fill a need elsewhere.

I'm JBJ's biggest fan, but I agree. Move on. I'm not all that high on Duran, but I'd like to see him get a shot at showing what he's got. Maybe we sign a couple 1 year OF'ers to give us a chance to see what Duran has and put off the OF decisions for another year. I am also going to be watching the progress of Jimenez & Rosario. To me, they might be our OF future more than Duran. It's just that Duran is way more closer to being ML ready.

If we spend the full $70M we have under the lux limit, we can be much better next year without any major trades. That doesn't mean we won't or shouldn't make any, but only that we may not need to shed anymore vets or big salaries to get back to competitiveness. My guess is we hold onto the players that will be free agents, soon, and see what happens, next season. If we are not looking competitive, we'll trade some by the deadline. Pedey, ERod and Barnes all come off the books after 2021, so the latter two seem like the most likely to be traded, but if Eovaldi , Beni & JD look good, next year, they could be on the block, too. They all come off the books after 2022. If Henry really wants to win in 2021, he may okay going $19M over the limit, thereby allowing us to spend about $90M. If we can't get competitive with that budget, then there's little hope.

Our Top Prospects 1. Casas 2. Downs 3. Mata 4. Dalbec 5. Ward 6. Jimenez 7. Houck 8. Duran 9. Song 10. Wallace 11. Rosario 12. Groome 13. Yorke 14. Potts 15. Seabold 16. Jordan 17. Lugo 18. Wong 19. Ramirez 20. PTBNL for Osich? Red= Bloom additions

Nice to hear. He may be placed in our top 10-14 rankings. I wonder who the PTBNL for Osich wiill be.

It's a good sign Bloom knows how to spot pitching talent. This time our medical staff let us down. Usually, it's not knowing someone is hurt (Pom, THornburg...). This time it was warning this kid was an injury risk (which he still might be).

I didn't forget. Here are some interesting numbers. Best ERA- in a season since 1970 (100+ IP): 1. 2000 Pedro 35 2. 1994 Maddux 37 3. 1995 Maddux 39 4. 1973 S Rogers 41 5. 2013 Buchholz 42 6. 1999 Pedro 42 14. 1997 Pedro 45 (MTL) 18. 1990 Clemens 47 19. 2018 C Sale 47 22. 2003 Pedro 48 25. 2002 Pedro 50 36. 2001 Pedro 53 42. 2010 Buchholz 54 65. 1994 Clemens 57 66. 2002 D Lowe 57 73. 1986 Clemens 57 78. 1992 Clemens 58 85. 1972 L Tiant 59

It's hard to ever say Buch tending down, since his whole career was a yo-yo.

True. I was speaking to the re-signing.

I'd say bad, so far, despite the playoff heroics. There's time to turn it around, and I'll always be grateful for his inspiration and performance in 2018.

I agree. I think we'll look to sign 2-3 players for 2 or more years- maybe 1 or 2 of them being 4+ years. The rest may be 1 year "bridge" signings that will allow us time to better evaluate how our farm hands might position themselves for meaningful roles for 2022 and beyond. Push to compete for the playoffs in 2021 and more for 2022. It won't be easy, but we should get some in-system help by 2022, and hopefully spending will not be an issue for a while.

We could begin rebuilding the staff, but more for beyond 2021, but also to make us more respectable for 2021 as we work towards filling other holes and determining which of our up and coming farm hands look to be worth giving a shot.

It was "overblown," but the truth is Tito had lost control. He was going through some personal issues, and I'm not slamming him, but it is common to move on from managers that "lost control," even if for just 1/3 or a season.

Just as trading Vaz for a pitcher may produce a dud.

I'm fine with trading Vaz for pitching, but it should not be a demand.

Yes, trading away Betts and others were "sacrifices." Losing to get higher draft picks may not have been intentional, but it was predictable (except for maybe 2019).

Here's another "accepted" deal: Beni & Chavis For Boyd Goodrum Meadows

He's only added to partially offset Eovaldi's contract.

Vaz is no stud. We dump Eovaldi's contract and can sign a SP'er.

How's this for a possible winter deal? Eovaldi, Vazquez, Chavis, Duran & Walden For Yastremski, Belt & Santana © (The trade simulator accepted it.)

None but Devers.

Yes, when we said it was decimated, it was, but we have gotten a little better. It wasn't easy with all the restrictions on big spending and big winning teams to add great prospects, but our farm improved a bit faster than I had expected. Losing helped some. Re-setting will help further. The Betts and summer traded helped a lot- something some of the cliff naysayers would have never expected happening when they said, "Don't worry. We'll rebuild the farm quickly."

The jury is still out on a few possible "burns," but yes, it looks like no trade was a clear "killer." Even if Moncada and Kopech turn out great, Sale did very well for us. (Note: I don't count the extension as part of the deal.) Yes, bias and optimism play roles, but there seemed to be less optimism on the very highly ranked prospects DD traded than the lesser ranked prospects we have now, maybe even by some of those who were fine with all the trades. I'm sure glad DD chose to hold onto Devers, and I felt that way from the start. Injuries to Espinoza and others have made those deal look better, and flops like Guerra have, too. We certainly could not get the same sorts of returns from our current prospects as we did from the two dozen or so DD traded away, and maybe that plays into the "hold em" mentality that seems to be prevalent, these days. Going by MLB Tradevalues numbers, here is how our prospects are valued: #44 Downs 26.4 (15 prospects have a value 2X or more) #52 Casas 22.2 #66 Dalbec #106 Mata #109 Duran #152 Jimenez (No more in top 200) If one figure we should have 1 in the top 30, 2 in the top 60, 3 in 90 and so on, it appears like we have more than average in the top 60, 90, 120, but less than average in the top 30. (Exactly average in top 150.) Maybe once the PTBNL'ers are known, and maybe guys like Potts or others get more of a chance, these numbers may improve, but when you look at some of these other team's rookies they are calling up, my jaw drops, and I can't help thinking, "Where's our can't miss guy like that?"

I always find it interesting how when we trade away a bunch of highly regarded prospects, we always here some say, "Most of them never work out, anyway," of afterwards we hear, "None have done anything special yet," but when our farm has very few "highly regarded" prospects, we hear a lot of hopeful opinions.

I'm not sure anyone said it was completely "bare," and Bloom has added many pieces with more to come, in the form of PTBNL's for Osich and Pillar. The fact remains, our farm is ranked pretty low, even after getting Downs and Wong from the Dodgers and not drafting 28th. We do have some promising prospects, and I do think we have built our farm up better and faster than I thought we could. The Betts trade helped. These summer deals helped. Not finishing with a great record, last year, helped our draft, too. None of these were known aspects a year ago. BTW, Chavis and DHern are no longer considered prospects, but neither has really shined all that much in the bigs. I still don't see us as having a top 20 farm. I've always liked Dalbec. Most of our other top prospects are too far away to feel to sure about. Guys like Chatham, Wilson and Duran do not excite me all that much, but maybe Potts, Seabold and Wong can rise up and help us, soon.